Show arhe OF THE PARTY 0 D App lolon century co inc service SYNOPSIS young rex bex hale calls on casper kneeland friend of his father in new york and finds him proudly successful but strangely preoccupied he tells hale of of his cifes death while insane invites him tor for the summer to halcyon camp his hemeon home on long island and promises him he w will H be useful as his secretary there hale Is joined olied at lunch by fred ainsa 0 rth an u unpopular college mate also at halcyon who leaves him with a feeling of unpleasant mystery he Is met anet at the train by mrs wllbur wilbur nash whom he questions about the menage and experiences a disturbing premonition the premonition is barely eased by the comfortable hospitality ot of hosanna Kne elands elderly sister and her friend ruth forbes middle aged sophisticate in his room hale finds a soiled paper printed this plase dangerous hale meets the rest of 0 the strange group dr craig psychiatrist friend of bert kneeland celand nervous young son of 0 casper and beautiful but moody joan kneeland niece of the house agns worth drops in at his room questions him about his reactions and tells him of berts hopeless love tor for his heiress cousin and that mrs forbes Is down and out the whole group seem to get on each others nerves later hale sees hosanna furtively meeting a shabby man in the woods the maid tells of the recent poisoning of a cat and dog mrs nash suggests that ainsworth has some hold bold on them returning from a swim hale finds in his room a clever sketch of skull and crossbones kneeland arrives for the weekend week end also c curious 1 about hales reactions CHAPTER ni continued 8 chos worried asked kneeland you are sir it if I 1 may say so so is your son so is your niece niece your sister I 1 fancy at least theres no suggestion of it replied hale kneeland made a quick gesture if any worry trotted up to hosanna it would trot off again with its tail between its legs she even know it had been there hosannas hosannah Hos annas a pink sofa cushion always has been always will be but what do you think of her friend mrs spencer forbes cold as ice hard as nails mildly amusing and not worried about anything she enjoys seeing other people worry though im not sure she enjoy seeing them suffer physically she and ainsworth might have had a great time if they had bad lived during the spanish inquisition and could have watched the victims ainsworth yes I 1 dont know I 1 much about mrs spencer forbes though ashes been with us oft off and on for years I 1 guess youre right about her I 1 hear you and ainsworth were at school together what sort of cub was he A bully of course he may have been at the cub stage hale agreed he was doing post postgraduate graduate work when we were at cornell he was a well behaved young man and very studious surely he popular no but there was no special reason for his unpopularity beyond his superior manner and his habit of saying anything rude he wanted to he prided himself on that its another trait he has in common with mrs airs spencer forbes ashes a better sport ashes willing to take as much as she gives ainsworth he wants to ride over people roughshod and have others treat him as tenderly as they would a baby the best way to handle him I 1 should say bay hale added deliberately would be to give him as good as he sends he take it hed crumple under it god id like to see him crumple kneeland broke in fiercely but im no good at what you young folks call repart tet efe never was 11 then why hale checked the question kneeland finished the query for him why the devil do I 1 have him around for just one reason in the world my boy because I 1 cant help myself id boot him from here to new york if I 1 could he went on longingly id enjoy every kick but well I 1 cant all there is to it you dont mean rex stopped again kneeland had started this and he must have a reason for doing so then continued you dont mean that the fellow is trying anything in the nature of blackmail on you he ended no not exactly one might call it something like that but I 1 guess not that would hardly fit but dont lets talk about it heres what I 1 started to say I 1 told you I 1 had a job for you I 1 have you can write Y a few letters tor for me but there wont be much of that till im here in aug I 1 handle my mail in my office and ive got an efficient private sec retard there a girl chos been with me ten years what I 1 want you to S be here at halcyon camp is a sort of ct substitute host I 1 want you to represent me when im not here I 1 want you to help me out when I 1 t am here I 1 want you to do the sort t of thing official entertainers do on shipboard and the so sort rt of thing my 1 l son ought to be doing entertaining the folks stir em up start things give civo ern em a good time try to here S change the general atmosphere phere n 5 ort be the ue life ot of the party I 1 deelo s eel b hale spoke poke flatly and with t dis 4 taste he dia disliked liked the assignment he told himself he disliked his housemates house mates he disliked halcyon camp most blest of at all in that moment he thought he disliked casper kneeland kneeland could and should he reflected have left all that to hales sense of his social obligations as a guest naturally he would have done his best but to be under orders as an official entertainer ter and ot of such a group as this one around him was different there was something ghastly in its humor kneeland read his thoughts dont get restless he be said this assignment is between you and me no one else will know anything about it officially you youre ire my home secretary you can give color to that by spending an hour or two a day in this study you can write your own letters in here but the main thing he went on straightening suddenly and speaking with a new quality in his voice is that theres heres a little string to all this oh hale began to see the light and to object mentally to what he saw your real job kneeland ended will be to find out what sort these people are oh hale repeated the word blankly you mean amateur detective work you mean that im to worm myself into their confidence w nothing like it it kneeland interrupted sharply in the first place my lad you get into their confidence not a confiding bunch moreover not talking about their little plans just working at them little plans do you know what those little plans are of 0 course I 1 dont kneeland jerked out impatiently it if I 1 did why would I 1 be asking you to look into things I 1 only suspect that ainsworth craig and mrs forbes are up to something I 1 believe they have axes to grind and that very busy grinding them these people are guests in my house eating my bread and in one way or another im afraid trying to do me dirt it may be in some trivial thing or it may not it if playing some skin game on roe me am I 1 or am I 1 not justified in asking you to help me to find out what it is after something my money no doubt perhaps helping ainsworth are you or are you not austif justified aed in pitting yourself ag against ainest them if youve got the ability to do it 1 I think you are and I 1 guess I 1 am hale said slowly good will you tackle the job yes sir I 1 will fine As to salary well say a hundred a month and expenses till I 1 get here in august more after that when theres more to do A good bonus at the end of the summer if youve succeeded in unearthing anything I 1 dont know expenses paid of course have to take trips to new york to f ind find out some things about Ain recent activities tivi ties and craigs ive looked up Ain professional record but you can find out more than I 1 can about his private life mrs spencer forbes may be in it it too perhaps I 1 dont know better decide that yourself all satisfactory so tar far quite sir but dont imagine that im one of those super detectives you read about in mystery stories 1 I hope youre not what we want is observation youve got it we want common sense youve got that we want some brains and you seem to have them kneeland heaved himself out of his chair now lets go back to the bunch and play contract he suggested he hesitated then added abruptly 1 I may be all wrong about these suspicions of mine except in ains case he and I 1 understand each other ether all right the others may be just a harmless bunch ot of hangers on getting what they can out of me perhaps im only a meal ticket to them perhaps im getting rattled and suspicious anyway he be smiled with an effort not being the gay little group a man would choose for a house party no not hale agreed kneeland stood brooding lor for a moment he seemed to have forgotten the contract game suddenly he threw up his head with a gesture oddly like hosannas hosannah Hos annas both hale reflected might have inherited it from some indian fighting new england ancestor im going to treat you like a father he ended with his best smile im going to refer sentimentally to old times and old ties perhaps ill slop over a little what I 1 want is to rub into these people the fact that youre my godson and the son 2 6 2 01 5 fisl I 1 what changed your opinion of my best friend youre at loose ends for the moment owing to the depression im giving you a little job and a restful summer tor for old times sake then they wont be suspicious see perfectly make a pretty good detective yourself sir but there are a few leading questions id like to ask may I 1 of course fire away Is it true that your son is in love with miss kneeland and wants to marry her yes it is hes asked her a dozen times he told me so has she refused him of course she has or he have kept on asking her it was plain that casper kneeland was not as much pleased with his young friend as he had been a few minutes before his manner was truculent Is he very much cut up by her refusals of course he is confound you 1 I dont see why you should mind answering these questions sir it true that part of the tension one notices in him may be due to the relations between those two to her refusals and his disappointment yes it is kneeland admitted more calmly in tact fact I 1 thought at first it was just that what changed your opinion it fit alt in with berts character hes in love with joan ile he has been for years but he the sort to moon around and make her life a burden because she turned him down hes a better sport than that he might keep on trying but not it if it worried or annoyed joan he hesitated then went on berts a big puzzle to me this summer he graduated from princeton a year ago this month and he loafed here all last summer of course I 1 expected that he would come into the factory in the tall fall hes no young napoleon of industry but hes no fool either he could be mighty useful to me at the factory I 1 was looking forward to it everything seemed to be going all right till he brought his friend craig here last august after that he changed completely he thought he wanted to go in for medicine craig has filled him up with that idea he asked craig here tor for the summer and bert himself has been mooning around ever since to be frank what I 1 suspect craig of Is using his influence with bert to keep him in the medical game I 1 think bert has lost interest in it I 1 even think he has lost a lot of interest in craig he certainly goes off by himself day after day while craig works in the laboratory but craig has no idea of being shaken off perhaps he has dreams of berts building a hospital for hirn him some day when hes a rich man I 1 dont know I 1 dont know anything I 1 only guess but my plan has always been to give my boy his head I 1 cant put him into leading strings now hale nodded sympathetically sympathetic ally and waited but kneeland had said all he had to say rex suspected that he was regretting his frankness he asked conversationally Is craig in love with miss joan too kneeland seemed relieved by the change of subject he says he is you can form your own conclusions anyway she has turned him down cold ashes fond of bert she loves him like a brother part of the trouble they were brought up like brother and sister no romance there on her part but she like craig a little bit how about ainsworth I 1 suppose hes in love with miss bliss kneeland too hi he made a little drive for her but not a serious one she gave him his walking papers at the first sign of it since then he bothered her ainsworth is in love with himself and his schemes he pay any more attention to joan and she detests him all right I 1 guess ive got what I 1 want now im ready for your contract game sir kneeland was himself again his ill humor had vanished if you can remember to say uncle cass it may help he suggested all right uncle cass its uncle cass from now on uncle cass kneeland grinned and his face grew young again the stuff he commended ile he threw his right arm across his new employees shoulder and in that friendly position they went back to the living room CHAPTER IV hale returned to his room toward midnight ile he and kneeland had played some good contract with herbert and joan the remoteness of the other four playing at a second table had clearly been a relief to the host in the intimacy of his family group his natural optimism and cheerfulness burst into full fail bloom he won several rubbers played successfully two little slams and enjoyed the evening he was sorry to have the party break up hale was not hale wanted to be alone and to think over his new responsibilities TO BE CONTINUED |